I think the fun of following the movie box office and stocks is very similar to the fun of sports – all three combine passion and unpredictability. – Leonard Mlodinow
One of the ways we interact with other human beings and form social bonds is through touch, and probably most of us are not aware of the extreme importance of touch. – Leonard Mlodinow
We all know that players will hit a few more home runs than usual in some years and a few less in others. But the mathematics of chance also predicts that some years they’ll hit a lot more, and some years a lot less. – Leonard Mlodinow
Of course our feelings matter. But emotional decisions are usually not the best ones. On the other hand, your emotions can affect your decisions whether you like it or not because the effects can occur on the unconscious level. – Leonard Mlodinow
I always liked movies, so I started writing for Hollywood, but my day job was physics. – Leonard Mlodinow
Touch seems to be such an important tool for enhancing social cooperation and affiliation that we have evolved a special physical route along which those subliminal feelings of social connection travel from skin to brain. – Leonard Mlodinow
One thing that feeds into the way you experience the social world is your mood – and one thing that affects your mood is the weather. – Leonard Mlodinow
On the unconscious level, touch seems to impart a subliminal sense of caring and connection. – Leonard Mlodinow
‘Subliminal’ is about how we misinterpret our behavior because we’re unaware of what our unconscious minds are doing. – Leonard Mlodinow
People spend a lot of time talking and thinking about how members of the opposite sex look, but very little time paying attention to how they sound. To our unconscious minds, however, voice is very important. – Leonard Mlodinow
A failure doesn’t mean you are unworthy, nor does it preclude success on the next try. – Leonard Mlodinow
By subliminal, I mean things that occur in our world that are below the threshold of consciousness but do have a psychological effect on us. – Leonard Mlodinow
I believe in a kind of God. I think all scientists, in a way, believe in a certain God, in a certain order of nature. – Leonard Mlodinow
When judging a product, we rarely have exhaustive scientific data to go by. As a result, if we are to form a complete picture, we must fill in the blanks, just as we must in our visual perception. – Leonard Mlodinow
We have emotions for a reason; for instance, imagine pain. You have pain so that if you touch something that’s hot, or if you slam your hand with a hammer, you will pull your hand away and not do that again. – Leonard Mlodinow
Language is handy, but we humans have social and emotional connections that transcend words and are communicated – and understood – without conscious thought. – Leonard Mlodinow
Evolution is among the most well-established theories in the scientific community. To doubt it sounds to biologists as absurd as denying relativity does to physicists. – Leonard Mlodinow
Expressive speech, with modulation in pitch and volume, and a minimum of noticeable pauses, boosts credibility and enhances the impression of intelligence. – Leonard Mlodinow
I find that predicting the course of our lives is like predicting the weather. You might be able to predict your future in the short term, but the longer you look ahead, the less likely you are to be correct. – Leonard Mlodinow